The Czech-Slovak-American musical family of the Kotyzas, based just outside New York, has long been working to secure, on the 20th anniversary of the attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, a new American execution of the Requiem by Juraj Filas, a work dedicated to victims of terrorism. The Czech-based Slovak composer was finalizing the work around this time 20 years ago.
Writing in the NY Times on September 15, 2011, the noted American music critic Allan Kozinn likened Filas’ work to the music of world masters such as Fauré, Mozart, and Verdi. Having listened to Oratio Spei, another equally respected music critic Matthew Gurewitsch not only expressed his professional appreciation but also became part of the team which recorded the work on January 22, 2014.
Filas’ Requiem was first staged in New York in 2011 on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 when it was performed in the Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola. It was then recorded with singers from the Metropolitan Opera at the Rudolfinum in Prague in 2013, and in Carnegie Hall a year later. The latter recording was broadcast by many radio stations in the USA. Works by Filas were played in Carnegie Hall on six different occasions.
Now, 11 parts of his Requiem were selected for their New York multi-media show by Czech artists who work in the contemporary digital world and use state-of-the-art virtual reality tools, video mapping as well as other technologies. All with the consent and under the kind supervision of the modest Juraj Filas who said: “I am sincerely happy that the young generation is not indifferent to the events which are still very much alive in our hearts and which, sadly, have not lost their relevance as a memento for the entire world.” The September multi-media show, Requiem 2021, to be staged in the Czech National Building on Manhattan on the eve of the 9/11 anniversary has been supported by the EUNIC member states, diplomats from Czechia, Slovakia and Poland as well as by our compatriots in New York.
And a final word on behalf of the Czech Center New York: We are working hard to prepare the multi-media performance commemorating victims of terrorism and together with the authors we want to believe that the digital version of Filas’ Requiem will find its way into the concert halls and cathedrals both in the US and elsewhere in the world.
